<Leonel is calling you . . .>
<ANSWER>
<IGNORE>
“. . .”
Ren couldn’t react for a moment. He forgot that the outside world could still call you even if you’re inside COVENANT.
Ren’s heart thumped widely as he stared at the name that was flashing on his screen.
Once upon a time, he and Leonel were the best of friends together with Saya and Mike. The four of them were inseparable during their high school years, and they even promised to go to the same university together.
Ren even liked Saya in the past but gave way to Mike since he’d rather keep their friendship than lose it on a girl with who he knew he wouldn’t end up in the end.
Saya’s parents owned a chain of restaurants, and they were actually wealthy, while Mike’s family owned a real estate company. So Saya’s parents preferred Mike over Ren. The only reason why they were in Zone C in the first place was because of their parents’ business.
It was not like Ren wanted to compete in the first place. There was nothing to compete with. Ren couldn’t bring her to those Michelin awarded restaurants that she frequented and buy her pieces of jewelry and makeup which she loved to do.
But Mike could.
Ren gave way to their love while maintaining their friendship, and it worked out in the end.
It was Leonel who supported him through those heartbreak days, and it was thanks to him that Ren managed to get over from Saya’s charms.
Even when in college, Leonel didn’t stop communicating and going out with him even though Leonel was admitted to Zephyr Academy because he didn’t make the entrance exam cut off in Fate.
It was a thirty minutes train ride from his school to Ren’s, and Leonel always made time to meet and catch up with everyone.
While in comparison, Saya and Mike, who were at the same school as Ren, started to distance themselves from him. Their reason was that they were in different departments, and it was hard to match their schedules.
But in truth, Ren knew it was because Saya and Mike were embarrassed about him since he had nothing in his name. It was okay in high school because they were the only few rich students, and they could do whatever they wanted.
It was a different matter in college, and in Fate Academy, where most students belonged to the rich and powerful, everything changed. And when the nickname ‘Ren the Rat’ circulated on campus, Saya and Mike stayed away from him completely.
Ren understood, and he didn’t feel bad about it since Saya and Mike needed to stick to their fellow rich cliques because of connections and benefits. After all, they needed to think of their future, and sticking with the rich and powerful was a sure way to success.
Contrary to everyone’s beliefs. The rich didn’t hate the poor.
No.
They simply didn’t care.
Ren thought that it was better for them to hate him than be invincible in their eyes. At least they felt something towards him and knew that he was still human in their eyes.
Since he had nothing to offer, everyone treated him like he wasn’t there. No one wanted to do anything with him.
He was that one guy at the side that could disappear, and no one would care.
When Ren’s father died, it was Leonel who stayed by his side. Ren even forgot how many times Leonel helped him both financially and emotionally, even though he wasn’t that well off either.
However, when Ren entered the game, he became even busier, and he forgot about Leonel and the others.
How long had it been?
Ten years? More than ten years?
Ren pressed <ANSWER>, and his surrounding froze. Since there was time deference in-game and the outside, if someone was calling from the real world, time in COVENANT froze for that player.
However, a call would only go thru in the game once you’re alone. If you’re not alone, a notification would still pop saying of an incoming call and that you could only answer once you’re alone.
This was because you’d be temporarily logged out from the game as you received the call.
“Hey, Ren! Remember that VR game we talked about?! Its opening is today! We have been dupe! You have to go to the nearest café and rent a pod now!”
Ren swallowed the lump in his throat. He opened his mouth, but no words left his lips.
He had forgotten Leonel’s deep and slow voice that it felt foreign to him now.
“Ren?! Are you listening?” Leonel said, huffing as he did. He was running to the nearest café at his place to log in to the game while the others were still unaware and blissfully sleeping.
“Y-yeah.” Ren could only manage that much without his voice breaking.
Ren was always a cold and detached person, so Leonel didn’t find anything wrong with his voice.
“Do you have access to a café right now? You have to go there before others got wind of the information, and they jammed every café.”
Ren remembered that Leonel had asked him the same question in the past, but he just brushed him off and ended the call saying that he was sleepy and needed to find a part-time job tomorrow.
Ren was actually annoyed in the past when Leonel called because he had disturbed his sleep.
“I’m going to finally become a Dwarf and experience being small for once!” Leonel continued talking on the other side while panting to catch his breath.
Ren blinked. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Leonel was over six feet in height. He was stall and lanky and bad at sports. Many people teased him because of it, saying that his height was useless if he was so clumsy and couldn’t use it to his advantage.
In people’s eyes, if you’re tall, then you have to be good in sports, or your height is useless.
This made Leonel feel conscious about his height. And the only reason why he entered the game was that he wanted to become smaller.
Leonel was also playing as a Dwarf Defender in his past life. But since he wasn’t playing seriously like the rest, he was easily overtaken. He didn’t know any strategy, and his equipment was always inferior. Besides that, he was always dying. Hence his ATP was still in the two digits even in the mid part of the game.
No one would party with him, and no one wanted to take him into their guilds. Pressed with the only option of playing solo, his quests were limited, he couldn’t enter dungeons or fight bosses, and his ATP suffered tremendously.
Leonel often asked for Ren’s help in the past since he had so much information about the game.
However, Ren was busy working for a guild and juggling his part-time to actually bother about Leonel. He even blocked him in the past.